


Valentine’s Day, 1986

by MissAudreyHorney



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bickering, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Jim "Chief" Hopper Being Jim "Chief" Hopper, Jim "Chief" Hopper Lives, Light Angst, Post-Stranger Things 3, Romantic Gestures, Sad with a Happy Ending, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29134950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAudreyHorney/pseuds/MissAudreyHorney
Summary: AU/canon divergence where Jim Hopper didn’t “die” in the explosion at Starcourt. Joyce Byers went on a date with him to Enzo’s and they've been a couple ever since. Now it's their first Valentine's Day together and Hop's romantic gesture leads to a bit of a lover's quarrel.
Relationships: Joyce Byers & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Valentine’s Day, 1986

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally published on Tumblr back in September so I thought I'd post it on here a little bit closer to the relevant date. I really enjoy writing Jopper so hopefully you enjoy reading it as well.

When Joyce Byers heard a loud repetitive knock on her door, she smiled, knowing exactly who it was. Jonathan was on a date with Nancy, and Will was over at Dustin’s place watching movies, leaving the house empty for Joyce and her surprisingly prompt date.

The first thing she saw when she opened the front door was the charming, handsome smile of Chief Jim Hopper. The second thing she saw was a bouquet of one dozen, long-stemmed, red roses. “Oh my God, Hopper,” Joyce exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

The smile slowly fell from his mustached face. “What? I’m on time, aren’t I?” Jim asked, shifting the flowers from his left hand to his right so that he could look at his watch.

“Yes, you’re on time,” Joyce answered with a huff of irritation.

“Do I have a stain on my clothes or something?” Jim added while looking down at his light beige sport coat, blue floral-patterned shirt, and Wrangler jeans.

“No,” Joyce responded. “The flowers,” she yanked the bouquet away from him, “they must have cost a fortune!”

Jim smirked as he walked past her and into the house, feeling smug that he had scored the last bunch of roses at the flower shop, leaving all the other schmucks coming in after him empty-handed. “Don’t mention it.”

Joyce sighed heavily as she closed and locked the door. When they had gone to Enzo’s, she felt uncomfortable at having him pay for the entire check. She had offered to split it with him but he wouldn’t allow it, wouldn’t even let her finish the sentence. Back in July, he had been so overjoyed to finally be out on a date with her, she didn’t dare to push the subject anymore and just allowed him to pay, not wanting to hurt his male ego by implying that he couldn’t afford such a lavish meal.

Seven months later, the part of Joyce that played nice for the sake of his pride was gone. She was not about to bite her tongue again to hold back the truth. “Yes, I’m going to mention it,” she said as she followed him into the kitchen. “How much did you pay for those?”

Jim turned around to look at her, the top of her head just barely meeting his shoulder. “Forty dollars,” he confessed hesitantly, a deep pink starting to color his face.

Her mouth fell open and her brow furrowed in confusion. “What the hell were you thinking of spending so much on flowers?” she demanded, poking her finger into his burly chest.

Jim began to scowl at her. “I was thinking it’s our first Valentine’s day together, Joyce. I wanted to surprise you with a gift,” he explained in a condescending tone.

“Well, you shouldn’t have wasted your money,” Joyce scolded, slamming the bouquet against him, a few red petals falling to the floor.

It wasn’t that Joyce hated roses, or romantic gestures as a whole, but after being married to Lonnie for so long, she had certainly grown unaccustomed to them. In all their years of marriage, he had never done anything as sweet as what Jim had just done. Some of his lack of effort was written off as a lack of funds, one of the few things the two men had in common. She was well aware that Jim couldn’t afford to spend $40 on something as superfluous as roses on his salary, especially now that he was raising a teenage daughter.

Jim grabbed the flowers from her hand and threw them onto the table, more red petals spilling across the white tablecloth and tumbling over the edge. “Excuse the shit out of me for doing something nice for you.”

“Damnit, Jim!” she yelled before getting into his face, as much as she could manage to while being a full foot shorter than him. “You know you don’t have to buy me anything to show me that you love me!”

The frustration faded from his eyes when he heard her last three words. “I don’t?” he asked softly.

Her shoulders dropped at the gentleness in his voice. “Of course you don’t,” Joyce consoled him, wrapping her arms around his torso and pressing herself into his belly. She smiled against the lapel of his sport coat as he reciprocated her hug.

For a little while, they simply held each other, letting their mutual exasperation dissipate in the comfortable silence of her kitchen.

Jim tilted his head down and kissed the top of hers. “You deserve it, Joyce. You deserve to have nice things.”

“I know, I know,” she dismissed and pulled away a bit to look into his eyes. “All I really want though is you. Just to have you by my side, just to call you mine.”

Jim smiled at her once more. That same soft, warm smile he gave her in the hallway of Mayor’s Kline mansion all those months ago. Only this time, his hand embraced her cheek, with his palm guiding her head upwards.

Being all too familiar with this gesture by now, she closed her eyes and met Jim’s lips halfway as he leaned down to kiss her. Every kiss since that first one on the night of July 4th made them both feel as if the years slipped away, the pain of the time gone by nothing more than a bad dream. It was like they were teenagers again, so in love, bursting with a passion that no longer needed to be repressed.

As soon as he moaned into her mouth, Joyce knew that if they continued like this for a second longer, they would end up going straight into her bedroom, ruining her previous plans for a candlelit dinner. Reluctantly, she ended the kiss and pulled away from him slightly.

“Jim?” she asked in a whisper.

“Yeah?” he replied, his voice equally as tender.

“Put these in some water for me, will you?” she said before handing him the remains of the bouquet.

“Sure thing, Joycie.”


End file.
